Fixing plate for a watch or clock movement in its case



March 23, 1954 STAMM 2,672,725

FIXING PLATE FOR A WATCH OR CLOCK MOVEMENT IN ITS CASE Filed Oct. 13, 1950 14 6 fa 5 9 e 1 lb fvvvenfoh Heinr-c'cZ, 512 771 Patented Mar. 23, v 1954 A WATCH R CLOCK FDHN G PLATE FOR MOVEMENT IN ITS CASE Heinrich Stamm, Grenchen, Switzerland, assignor to Eterna A. G., Uhrenfabrik, Grenchen, Switzerland, a joint-stock company Application October 13, 1950,

Claims priority, ap Octobe 2 Claims.

The fixing of a watch or clock movement in its case only by means of screws has the disadvantage that the corresponding holes in the movement said edge is tapered, a too short thread is often insufiicient. It is known to remove this drawback by using fixing plates screwed on the movement edge, which project beyond this edge and bear on a corresponding shoulder of the case.

project by a deterbody of the movement in the non-watertight watches, whereas they must project beyond the outer edge of the movement in the watertight watches. Since it is not desirable to make two different types of jection of the plate.

The fixing plates known have the drawback of having no centering means, so that the worker must always put the plate by hand into the position corresponding to the type of watch considered, that is with the desired amount of projection.

The present invention relates to a fixing plate An embodiment of the invention will now he further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a top view.

Fig. 2 is an underview.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view through the plate mounted into a non-watertight watch, and

Fig. 4 is a similar view for a The fixing plate I is slightly bent upwards to obtain a resilient efiect. Its left-hand portion la is adapted to be fixed by means of a screw to a watch or clock movement, whereas its righthand portion lb partially projects beyond the edge of the movement and bears against a corwatertight watch. r

Serial No. 189,959

plication Switzerland r 21, 1949 responding shoulder, for instance of the caseband. The portion I a has an elongated hole or slot with a symmetry axis. In the edges of said slot, on the upper side, are countersunk conical centering seat-forming recesses 2, the imaginary axis of which is situated at 3. On the underside of the plate I (Fig. 2) is also countersunk a similar'conical centering seat-forming recess 5, the imaginary axis 4 of which is located at a certain distance from the axis 3. The positions of the two axes are chosen in a manner such that the distance between the axis 3 and the edge of the portion I a, as measured on the extension of the symmetry axis of the elongated hole, is smaller than the distance measured in the same way between the axis 4 and the edge of the portion lb of the fixing plate I.

In Fig. 3 the fixing plate I is shown mounted into a non-watertight watch. Besides the difference already stated about the projection, i. e. the amount by which the plate extends beyond the edge of the movement, there is another difference in the two types of Watches as regards the disposition of the fixing plate. In the nonwatertight watches indeed, due to the elasticity of the plate, the movement is drawn towards the side of the bottom, whereas in the watertight watches it is pressed against the side of the dial. This difierent effect of the fixing plate is obtained by the fact that the convex surface of the plate is turned towards the side opposite to the movement in the non-watertight watches, whereas it is turned towards the side of the movement in the watertight Watches.

In Fig. 3 the movement edge is denoted by 6. In a hole I of the latter is screwed a fixing screw 8 provided with a shank of a diameter which is smaller than the width of the slot and with a conical head 9 of a diameter less than the length of the slot but greater than the width of the slot, for maintaining in position the plate I. Due to the elasticity of the plate, the shoulder #0 of the movement edge 6 bears against a shoulder ll of the caseband 12. The conical head 9 of the screw 8 enters the conical centering seat 2, and the portion lb of the plate I bears against a shoulder M of the caseband l2.

In a watertight watch (Fig. 4), the plate is turned over by 189 and the conical head 9 of the screw 8 enters the conical centering seat 5. The plate I thus presses the movement 6 against the side of the dial I5, the shoulder l9 being pressed against a shoulder l3 of the caseband l2, whereas the portion lb of the plate I bears against a shoulder M of the caseband l2.

From the foregoing may be brought out that on assembly there is no other care to be taken besides introducing the plate I in a manner such that its convex surface is turned towards the correct side according the type of watch considered. The centering operation is then made automatically, for the conical head 9 of the screw 8 readily enters one of the conical centering seats 2 or 5 and thus brings the fixing plate I into the correct position with respect to the movement, whether the watch is watertight or not.

What I claim is:

1. A device for detachably fixing a horological movement in a case comprising a fixing plate having an elongated slot therein to receive an attaching screw provided with a shank of a diameter which is smaller than the width of the slot and having a conical head, said slot having a length greater than the diameter of said screw head, and said plate having conical seat-forming recesses in the side edges of said slot to provide on one side of the plate at one position in the slot a seat for receiving the conical head of the screw and fixing the position of the plate relative to the screw, and said plate having conical seat-forming recesses in the side edges of said slot to provide on the other side of the plate at another position in the slot a seat for receiving the conical head of the screw and fixing the position of the plate relative to the screw, the axis of one seat being spaced from the axis of the other seat longitudinally of the slot.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which the plate is curved so that one side surface is convex and the other side surface is concave, and one of. said seats is provided in the convex side and the other seat is provided in the concave side.

HEINRICH STAMM.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,968,718 Smith July 31, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 101,345 Great Britain Aug. 28, 1917 

